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stories from the past

This is some childhood stories from my cousins, I was three years older, so I never really joined them at that time, so these were the youngest group in the family and their stories

Characters in this would be 2 boys (amil n boboy) and 3 girls (bibi, mun & tasha)

Bibi was telling us her stories of how she was bullied when she was younger by the cousins, we knew that she was being bullied to a certain extend but we didn’t know most of the other stories, and we were laughing like mad when we heard it from the victim bibi herself.

You see, bibi was very irritating as a child and she constantly seeks for attention from our parents, we really didn’t like her, she was ‘the reporter’ in the family which even made it difficult for us to like her. When we balik kampong (that’s where she stays with my aunt and family) during the holidays, my family & cousins family would normally stay in a hotel and she would try her best to get herself invited to the hotel by asking her mum to talk to our parents to take her in, we hated her that time, get it? So she wasn’t at all welcomed there, which made the younger cousins (which was her age group) furious and thus did the following to her, I tell you, they wouldn’t even remember it after 20 years, but bibi has it fresh in her memory, she must have been traumatized!

Incident 1: In a swimming pool, amil actually pushed her into the deep pool, knowing that she didn’t know how to swim! But of course pulled her out a while later…there was this time, while she was happily playing in the not so deep area, he pushed straight into the deep area, she wasn’t aware and of course panicked! He did this many times!

Incident 2: this was in Klang, boboy and her was on a bicycle, of course boboy was the one pedaling and bibi at the back, suddenly he told her to get down “for a while” and he rode off, guess what, there was a huge dog behind her and she didn’t notice it as she was getting down, apa lagi kena keja anjing lah bibi! Boboy just rode of as fast as he could, he told her to get down so that he could make the escape from the dog faster!

Incident3: There was this time when my aunt told boboy to climb tree to pluck the mangoes, so he told bibi to stay down and as he was throwing the fruits down, her purposely threw it at her at every possible opportunity! At first she thought it as an accident, but when he kept on doing it, she got the picture! (kena rejam dgn buah tu!!) Very bad boboy!!

Incident 4: I can’t remember it was boboy or amil, but there were suppose to again climb the tree to get some fruits, and when they saw the tree was full of huge ants, he happily instructed bibi to climb and get it, she being obliging and trying to win her cousins hearts I guess, actually did it when it wasn’t her job in the first place!

Incident5: This was in my aunt’s house in KL, mun, tasha, boboy and amil were playing cards or some board game, bibi came into the room and wanted to join, amil instructed her to make milo “bibi, aku dahaga lah, hang pi buat milo sat”, so she did, then when she came up with a mug, boboy went” bibi, aku pun dahaga lah, aku nak jugak”, again she went down and made him a mug, while they happily enjoyed their game without her, then she came up, mun wanted a mug too & then followed by tasha…not that they really wanted it, they were trying to get rid of her! And she remembers it!

Incident6: This was during a cousins wedding, we were in a cousin’s photo session, and amil was the last to join into the picture taking, and there wasn’t enough room, so what did he do? “Hang tepi lah” he said…He pushed bibi away and took her spot!

Incident7: The four of them were playing mercun during raya, and of course bibi wanted to play too, amil and boboy were handling the mercun, amil delegated the activities, nat and mun play the bunga api while bibi was told to hold the candle, he said this “hang amik lilin nie, hang pegang”, yeah that that was all she did, holding the candle throughout while this people enjoyed their session…

Incident8: this happens all the time with mun, when she is alone with bibi, and have no other cousins around, especially if her family were to arrive first at the kampong, she would be happily playing with bibi like she was her friend and didn’t have any dislike feelings, but as soon as the cousins arrived (amil, boboy and tasha) she will immediately ignore bibi and play with the rest!

Incident9: this is what bibi remember tasha as, she always was just showing sign of hatred i.e jelling, muka menyampah and saying harsh things etc all the while when bibi was in the room, she and mun are both a follower of the amil and boboy, they are the ones who set the whole hate game!

I'm sure there were more incidents, but these is all I remember from her stories...

We the elder cousins too didn’t like her at that time, but she doesn’t remember it as we don’t do things like these monkeys did to her, we just didn’t like her for the reasons above but we never did anything to outright to show her that, but now we are all ok I guess, she can openly confess all these things which most of the cousins have forgotten in our session at rasta last week, well we have matured and she has too, she even said “I’m no longer the bibi you people use to know” then I ask, “what bibi was that”, and she said “the reporter”, and I thought good, at least she knew why she wasn’t liked at all those days.

But really amil & boboy, I didn’t know you guys were mean!! mun and tasha, I knew they were followers, there were incidents involving these four until tasha got slapped by my dad and boboy or amil got hit with a wooden stick until it broke by their parents as they were the uncontrollable type that defies the parents rules! Yes you people were!!

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Dinner & Movies...

No it wasn't a date..it was with the DD's... :)

Dinner: Subway (Avenue K) - we were craving for subway!
Movie: Angels and Demons (KLCC) - I liked it!

We met up after a long time, the four of us...That's Elaine with her 1 ft subway meltz & Su's 1 ft Chicken Teriyaki (she didn't finish it!), ok fine..I took 1 ft of Seafood & Crab... :) Put came later so she had half (6 inch) Seafood & Crab...



We juz love taking pictures...



Our uniqes style of taking pics...:)



Had a great time with you gurlz!

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~ Life ~

"Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Sorrow keeps you Human,
Failure keeps you humble and Success keeps you glowing, but
only Faith & Attitude keeps you going..."

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The fable of the monkeys

Something to help us understand the current financial markets...enjoy!

The Star, Saturday May 23, 2009
The fable of the monkeys
THINK ASIAN By ANDREW SHENG

ONCE upon a time, there was a kingdom that was famous for its banana production. The bananas were so good and tasty that they were even used for money.

One day, a monkey came and made an offer to look after the bananas. The people said, “but we never let monkeys look after bananas!” But this monkey was different. He said, “I have got a physics degree Summa Cum Laude from Bantech, I got an MBA from Chicaton, I have worked for Simian and Simians, the best firm in the business and look, I wear an Armani suit.” People thought – “he is right, we should not be prejudiced.” So they allowed him to look after a small plantation.

This monkey was very able and clever and under his charge, the plantation prospered. He noticed that bananas ripened very fast and could rot easily, and there were good bananas and bad bananas. The best bananas were gold in colour and were very valuable. Some were hard and not easy to sell. This non-standardisation of bananas was a great loss to the plantation and there was no liquidity in the market.

So this clever monkey called Ah Yuen invented the first derivative, using one banana leaf (called one Ye) to represent a bunch of 10 bananas. And people thought, how clever. We don’t have to carry bananas – banana leaves are so light and so convenient. Anyway, whenever we need bananas, we just exchange Ye’s with Ah Yuen, who is always willing to buy and sell bananas in exchange. After this, Ah Yuen became the richest person in the country and established a banana bank called Yebank! Yebank’s slogan was “Ye’s we have bananas.”

Ah Yuen was so entrepreneurial that he expanded through mergers and acquisitions, first through an IPO and then issuing banana shares to acquire more plantations. Everyone was happy – because they were now trading Ye’s instead of bananas and they felt they were growing richer and richer.

One day, Ah Yuen had a brain wave. Instead of trading one leaf for 10 good bananas, why couldn’t he package the good and bad bananas into a super leaf called Banana Debt Obligation or BanDO. He persuaded a Banana Rating Agency to give AAA rating for these BanDOs and persuaded an insurance company called BIG (Banana Insurance Group) to insure these BDOs with a special leaf called BanDS or Banana Decay Swap. If the banana decays, you swap for another banana. For his success, he got a 20% bonus and also options to more future profits.

One day, the King sent his Grand Vizier to check on the market. Ah Yuen gave a dazzling powerpoint presentation on how the whole market was self-regulating. He showed how he had created a huge market on BanDOs with complete swap and futures markets based on what was formerly a primitive market of real bananas. The country was prospering and everyone seemed happy. The Grand Vizier did not want to show everyone that he did not understand what the BanDOs and BanDS were and as long as everyone looked happy, he did not ask any more questions. After all, they were all rated AAA. Moreover, his nephew worked with YeBank.

The market in BanDOs was so successful that some asset managers claimed that they would sell their mother-in-laws first before they sold BanDOs. One clever asset manager even created a PonBan scheme, whereby he guaranteed steady high returns because he could hedge everything in the BanDO market through options, hence the name Put On Bananas scheme. His sales principle was simple – if you have to ask questions on how the scheme works, you can’t afford it.

One day there was a banana blight and some people decided to cash in a few BanDOs. A few bold hedge fund managers even had the temerity to short the BanDO market, causing market nervousness. So, to stop the panic, the Banana Exchange Commission decided that short-selling should be temporarily banned in order to create orderly markets. People were advised not to listen to vicious market rumours. However, because the premium on BanDS had gone up, the Banana Rating Agency had no alternative except to downgrade BanDOs from AAA to BBB or junk status. Overnight the market collapsed and YeBank had a bank run causing it to be nationalised. The investigators found lots of leafs, but no bananas in the bank.

There was a royal commission to investigate the collapse. The first question to Ah Yuen was: what happened to the bananas? Well, he replied, “I ate a bit as I was entitled to my bonuses and options. I paid the lawyers, the distributors and the Banana Rating Agency quite a lot of bananas. I gave you all a banana split called BanDOs because you wanted more bananas. Everyone had a good time, so why blame me? Don’t forget that I am still entitled to my retention bonus under my employment contract.”

After days of hearings, the royal commission reached two basic conclusions: Never trust monkeys with bananas; and a monkey in an Armani suit is still a monkey!

Datuk Seri Panglima Andrew Sheng is adjunct professor at Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, and Tsinghua University, Beijing. He has served as adviser and chief economist to Bank Negara, deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission

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more on daily adventure...

This morning, I got the opportunity to be invited to a meeting with the management, like the top guns of the bank, I have never been exposed to that level in my entire career, and it was scary and great at the same time. They were talking about business strategies, how to do this & that (which of course I can't say here), and of course the risk aspects of things...all in all, it was a great exposure, it makes me think of things under a different light. I was quiet the whole time, just an observer, didn't say a word, well you know, being new and all, I don't want to be too enthusiastic and end up saying the wrong things, so observing was good.

Well nothing else on work, my bosses are nice, so far, they have not really given me a real task, I'm still reading all the materials, and understanding reports, I guess I am to come up with what's to be done, I really hope I can perform to my best here. Something that did scare me though this morning, What if I don't meet their expectations? Gosh it's a scary thought, as it is, I was the youngest and the only gurl in the meeting room...but of course being me, I was cool the whole time :)(ye ker..hmm..)

Well, its been two weeks here, and I got my name card, my cop, my pay (half month only, don't get ideas) & my tag, hey that's fast!

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young or old?

Well…I was in a meeting today and still in the process of getting to know people, and the SVP, EY asked me my age, and I told him, he said “but you do look a lot younger” and the other VP, PL said “yes, that’s true, I thought you were younger”. I just smiled :)

So I’m the only one feeling like I’m old while others that look at me actually think I’m younger…cool huh..maybe it’s because I’m wearing braces! But whatever, it made my day…

Back to feeling old, I’m 28 (and never been kissed..like that movie u know :))or been in any relationships, it gets me thinking, will I ever get married? Like...most of my friends are married with two kids max or at least one…do I wanna get married? Yes to Mr. Right, do I want kids? Yes of course, I have not met "the person" yet, and sometimes it makes me sad when people who see me or some of my friends and instantly make comments like we are so choosy (memilih) when they get to know that we are single. What can we do if there's no eligible ones that approach us? haih...stop judging us...why don't you help us instead...? (Although it's pretty scary to us, but it's better than just doing nothing and judging us and our lifestyle)

But it’s not like I don’t go dating, actually I have been on several blind dates, hmm 6 to be exact, every year 1 since I started working, but none of them even made it to becoming friends with me after meeting me, I keep blaming my appearance for that…some people say it might not be it, it could be my body language, my level of education or maybe I am just not ready to be friends with anyone! (isn’t that like sombong? nope that’s not it).
What am I to do if they don’t call me after the meet up or if they pretend not to know me, it’s very de-motivating, it really does hurt.

Recently I was told to respect people’s choices and eat more crabs…now what’s with the crabs? Raja & Noria changes our perspective on the dating game, well I hope it works though (even though I'm almost giving up in the dating game)...Another story for another day perhaps?

xoxo!! good night

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my NEW daily adventure

As most of you know, I have started my new job...the place is nice...very small compared to my previous organization...the people..can't say much, still getting to know them...I was introduced to various departments, which was a good thing, at least people know of my existence...in my previous place, I got introduced after a week or two, that too only internally in the department, didn't get to see treasury/ dealing room, this time, my bos took me there and introduced me around since we were gonna be working closely with them. Anyway...got to say..I can't remember everyone's names...I use to be able to remember names but faces I can't...now its both! goshh..I'm aging...and I can feel it!

What was great was that the pc and place, telephone and all kinds of access was ready when I joined yesterday, I didn't have to sit around and wait like I did the last time (waited for 2 weeks to get a pc and another few weeks for access of systems)...yes everything is being compared to the previous organization...well since its my second job..I can't help it :)

And there's this gurl, she's helping me get to know the place and all, she's really young (which makes me feel old!), talks a lot, have lots of stories and is really cheerful...its a good thing I'm hanging with her... she invites me out to lunch and introduces colleagues from other departments, I really appreciate it, especially since I'm not the type that's easy to mingle or start a conversation with people..really I thank god she's there!

So... I was describing the my office to Su, about how cool the place looks and how it feels like I'm sitting in the garden with the nice view and fountain out the glass window...she told me to take a picture...so I did with my hp camera, since I was segan to take out the real camera...hehe so here it is...juz from my view while siting at my place...

it's not a room..just a cubicle in this large settings..it feels like I'm under the trees...:)




anyway...the job covers the whole of market risk, which is a good thing since I have covered both trading (Traded Market Risk) and non-trading (Asset Liability Management) previously, but what's similar here is that its highly manual work...so much human intervention, spreadsheets after spreadsheets, so this is what I'm doing at the moment, studying them all, and trying to find a better solution I hope...and there's other things like setting policies and methods and stuff like that...I hope I can make a difference there...wish me luck!

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Happy Mother's Day...!

Happy Mother's day to my Mom & all the mothers out there...well to name a few of my age group, Friendz --> Su, Amm, Huda, Tomek, Lyack, Lin, Mai, Bol, Zahirra, Baemisla, Wan Saarah, Izliana; Cousins --> Nadira, Farah Naz, Maheran, Shaheeran, Suzie

Updates for the day: Aunty Soraiya & Khalid went back to Jeddah for good...gonna miss having them in Malaysia...Khalid is completing his final year project from there & submitting it online...heh good luck with that Khalid!

There's some pictures of us at the airport...will be uploaded later (if I rajin lar)...

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Dinner @ LookOut Point

08-May-09: Finally we went to Look Out Point...not very good pictures here...cameraku bukan SLR..so everything is dark...but it was really a nice place to chill...very cool and windy...liked the atmosphere..


Trying to get the background of KL skyline @ nite...but not visible with normal camera...


Shot taken on the same day by another freind (Azah) using semi SLR (?), asalkan nampak la the view..so here it is...


Only 5 came out of the 8 that confirmed...Azita, Nani, Has, Hana & Me, the other 3 got stuck in work...(Ija, Myra & Elaine)

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Chillin' @ Singapore

So what were we doing there? WE purchased the zero fare tickets last year...Huda insisted that we joined them...so Put & I did :)

We were here!!


Day 1 - Arrived at Changi..took the cab to YMCA hotel: Cost of Hotel SGD99++ & cost of taxi SGD17.80. Then we freshned up and went out for a walk along Orchard Road.




Stopped for snacks at mamak...Put & Baim had their milo dinasour here & some prata's (cost: SGD15++)... Later @ night, Baim's cousin picked us up & brought us for dinner at Soup Tulang - nice yet scary looking red sauce...Huda wanted it soo much, and she is pregnant therefore we said OK! but it was nice...



Next we went to lepak at Arab/Baghdad street with Baim's cousins friends...also nice chillin' place...Put & I enjoyed it (Cost:SGD0 - yeah got treated by Baim's cousin all the way! thanks!!).

Day 2 - Went to Esplanade & visited the Mama & Baby Merlion (cost: a few dollars on the MRT)...






Had lunch at some Far East Plaza, Chinese Muslim Cuisine (cost: SGD35.60 for the four of us)then we shot off to Sentosa (Cost:SGD13 with Song of the Sea tix...then another SGD30 on the 4D show & Long something show)

the peacock was juz walking around and posing for people to take its pictures! Yup...that was at Coffee Bean..too tired to walk by then...the que for the shows were long...tiring!

checkout the background lights...it changes...cool...

- dead tired when we got back...our legs/feet couldn't take it anymore..retired for the night..watching cerekarama (crying at the end of it...damn good acting lar!)

Day 3 - Noria & Raja picked us (me & Put) up at the YMCA, Baim & Huda went to their cousins place..yup we separated..so Noria prepared lunch for us..really yummy! Then we took a tour at their beautiful apartment...




and we were off sightseeing again...this time..Raja & Noria took us the the Fountain of Wealth and then we went on the Duck Tour (this is where it takes us on land n water...cool ride about an hour)...

some sightseeing observed from the DuckTours...Flyer, Stadium & Esplanade...

then we had our coffee at starbucks..and proceeded to Mustafa (I bought perfumes ++) and then to tempanis mall to look for our board game "Scattergories" but it wasn't in any stores...sigh...Next we went home, had some rest, and shot out again for Seafood at East Cost Seafood Center...here we had the Pepper Crab...it was nice..also some other dishes...and we went to Arab/Baghdad street again! hahha... bumped into some new friends there...had an interesting conversation with Raja & Noria..they helped us look at things in a different perspective..so thanks a lot guys! And then we retired for night..said our Goodbyes to Raja since he was leaving for work early in the morning..(cost:SGD0 for us...we got treated all the way...murah rezeki..) thanks Raja & Noria...:)

Day 4 - Got up...got ready...had breakfast...and Noria took us to the airport...meet up with Baim, Huda & Haekal...& Goodbye Singapore...well come again :)


-The End- back in KL now...sigh...

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Dora turns a year older...

Dora turns a year older...& a decade younger...(what's with "I'm 18" huh Dj!!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DORA!!!

May you be happy always...& selamat preparing for your wedding!

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Hangging out with X-RMD-ianz

27 Apr 09: The X-RMD group met up...also treated me to a farewell...cool huh two farewells..heheh..anyway..thanks to Glennise for organizing the whole thing..together with Pireya..

Thanks to all who could make it...it was great..but there were only 2 or 3 singers..so it was tiring! ahaha



Group picture of those who attended...

From left: Kak Yah, Fendi, Ruthran, Shaz, Nazri, Glennise, Pireya, Azral & Tarmezee



Thanks again! we will definately keep in touch...I hope :)


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Farewell Lunch from RMDianz...

23 Apr 09: I was treated to a farewell lunch at Olive Tree @ Hup Seng, nice place, food not bad for the price (lunch buffet)...my team & my old team members were there..also some from other teams...thanks guys! it was really nice :)

Here's some group pictures..




It was a pleasure working with all of them...hope to bump into them anytime in the future...really great colleagues
...

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